CAIRO – Many groups have been created on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, all calling for people's rights after the January 25 revolution. But where are the rights that women have been fighting for since the 1919 Revolution? “There is an atmosphere of enmity and people are not looking at the situation with objectivity,” says Iqbal el-Samalouti, Dean of Faculty of the Social Services and head of the Hawaa al-Mostaqbal Association. Iqbal sees that the decision-makers are mainly keeping the peace and satisfying a certain category of Egyptian society, ignoring women and their rights. She notes the absence of women from the leading positions after the revolution. Many believes that women were the main reason behind the January 25 revolution, while their stance became clearer after female journalist Nawal Ali died because she was maltreated by police. According Bahigah Hussein, a board member of the Egyptian Association for the Right to Development, women weren't that far away from Al Tahrir Square; on the contrary, they were in the heart of the battle, fighting for their nation against a corrupt regime. “I wonder why there are no women on the Constitutional Amendments Committee. I think they've been left out on purpose,” Hussein told the local weekly magazine Sabah el-Kheir. However, Nabil Abdel-Fattah, a specialist in the affairs of religious groups and working at Al-Ahram Strategic Studies Centre, says that women and their rights are not being marginalised or ignored during the transitional period åthe nation is passing through. He describes Egypt as a developed country that calls for women's rights and defending them against the extremist religious currents. Regrettably, the Government manipulated the National Council for Women (NCW) and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) to gain money from local and international non-profit organisations that support women and defends their rights. The Government spent the money on enhancing the image of Egypt's ruling elite in the eyes of the world. “Being angry with the former regime doesn't mean that we should jettison all that women gained at the time,” says Amna Nosseir, a professor of Islamic Philosophy at Al-Azhar University, blaming the women and children who benefited from this. Former Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour agrees, recalling how hard Egyptian women have had to struggle since the 1919 Revolution to claim their rights. Asfour, also an ex-member of the NCW, urges women to unite as a bloc and ask the Prime Minister to acknowledge their long-sought-after rights. “I am all for keeping the two councils [the NCW NCCM] as a sort of mechanism for preserving their rights,” he suggests, stressing that their policies should be changed for the benefit of the nation. Meanwhile, Seham Negm, the head of the Woman and Society Association, says that now is a golden opportunity for the Egyptian people to call for freedom, social justice and dignity. “These moral values could help crystallise a new constitution serving everyone, whether rich or poor, female or male, old or young,” she argues.
